all of which reminds us that five is the most powerful number in the nation. five votes on the supreme court can pick a president recall bush v. gore. redefine our constitutional rights, think citizens united, and determine the constitutionality of a statute. think of the healthcare act of last june. maybe this is good news because the court over the past few years has proven to be the last refuges of decision making as congress and executive branches have proven themselves too often mired in gridlock and avoidance behavior that typify so many institutions. on the other hand the old mythology that the supreme court can depend upon a neutral analyst of legal principles to resolve these tough issues is more and more suspect. the court itself has been mired in ideological and partisan bickering. witness the acid tone of the four conservative justices in their dissent in the healthcare case. this partisanship and what i view to be the intellectual gamesmanship of those who erect false interpretive facades to justify the outcome oriented reasoning, detracts from th